3 striking Air India pilots resume duty; stir continues on day 9

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Three Air India pilots, who had reported sick, resumed duty today in the first sign of an end to the nine-day stir by over 200 pilots, whose union IPG said they were open to talks with the government to resolve the deadlock.

An Air India spokesperson said, "three sick pilots have resumed duty today", but the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), spearheading the agitation, claimed that they were not its members and accused the management of trying to create a rift and confusion among their ranks.

With Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh offering to hold talks unconditionally and promising that the airline would not be vindictive, the IPG said in a statement it was "open to meeting with officials of the management and/or Ministry at any place at any time in order to resolve these issues and bring an end to the current impasse."

Hit by the pilots stir, the airline put into operation curtailed international services to Europe and North America as part of a contingency plan. There was no end to the woes of passengers who either could not find a seat in another airline or found the ticket cost prohibitive.

"The strike continues. .... We don't want pilots to be martyred," IPG president and NCP MLA Jitendra Ahwad told PTI when asked whether they were willing to call off their agitation that has led to a revenue loss of over Rs 150 crore to the loss-making carrier besides causing inconvenience to passengers.

Singh had yesterday promised to hear the pilots' grievances and appealed to them to return to work, saying they had the "last chance" to revive the "almost bankrupt" airline. The pilots' stir had figured in Parliament with members, cutting across party lines, urging the protestors to get back to work.

The airline has already sacked 71 striking pilots, who have been protesting against rescheduling of training programme of Dreamliner and issues related to their career progression.

Meanwhile, the airline curtailed and clubbed many of its flights to the US and Europe to stabilise international operations.

It operated Delhi-Paris-New York (JFK), Delhi-Frankfurt- Chicago flights, apart from those on Delhi-Shanghai and Delhi-London routes.

Regarding Singh's statement that the agitating pilots wanted exclusive rights to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, the IPG said the Supreme Court's observations showed that the training programme of 50:50 ratio of pilots from erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India was subject to the final outcome of the petition filed by the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA).

Asked to comment on the ongoing stir, Heavy Industry Minister and senior NCP leader Praful Patel said, "it is unfair for me to comment on anything that is going on. All I can say is that the Aviation Minister's approach is right and I fully support the Minister for whatever steps he has taken and intends to take."

The pilots are also understood to have approached senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, who also heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture that covers all issues relating to Air India.

On the Minister's statement in Lok Sabha yesterday, the IPG said it had been "apprehensive of the role played by a section of Air India management in providing an incomplete, incorrect and distorted picture to the Hon'ble Aviation Minister.

"The details provided regarding demands of the pilots in Parliament by the Hon'ble Minister was based on this incorrect information provided to him."

Earlier, the IPG leaders had asked the government to at least initiate preliminary talks to break the dealock. "The government should at least being preliminary talks. We are ready for talks but they should formally invite us for talks to resolve the issue," Ahwad said.

Besides demanding career progression, the striking pilots are also demanding a clear cut HR integration policy for an effective merger, which is the bone of contention between the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India employees.

The decision to merge the two carriers, which the Civil Aviation Minister has termed as a "failure", had also drawn flak from the CAG and parliamentary panels.